DOLPHIN RESEARCH CENTERThirty years of Teaching, Learning, Caring for marine mammals and the environment we share.DRC is a nonprofit marine mammal education and research facility located in the heart of the fabulous Florida Keys. Home to a family of Atlantic bottlenose dolphins and California sea lions, DRC offers a variety of educational, fun, exciting programs, and close-up interactions. We hope you enjoy our blog!

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

As you all know, Dolphin Research Center is featured in a spectacular new documentary series called Dolphin Days. It is already airing in the United Kingdom and Italy, and is slated to premier in the coming months in Singapore and throughout Europe and we’re receiving wonderful viewer reaction. However, Animal Planet in the United States has not yet acquired the series and we don’t have any assurances that they will do so.

We think it can’t hurt to let them know that there are thousands of people in the U.S. who want to see Dolphin Days and would be glued to Animal Planet if they air the show. If you’d like to join the effort to bring Dolphin Days to a television near you, please email or write to Animal Planet and let them know how you feel.

Once you are on the page, please fill in information in the required fields. When asked to select a network, choose “Animal Planet”. When asked for the Program/Show, scroll down the list and select “Other”. For the Last Watched field, pick “Unknown”. On the next page, select “Primetime” and “General Comment or Question”. You will then be able to leave a comment in the box provided. (When you’re actually doing the steps, it isn’t complicated.)

Monday, June 29, 2009

These manatees were definitely on the move going from one side of DRC to the other!

Executive VP Mandy Rodriguez observes the manatees in action. You can see by the manatee's tail paddle that he must have had a run-in with a boat at some time in his life.

Love was definitely in the air, or at least in the water, recently when a group of manatees visited DRC. At this time of year, mating herds are common and three or four males were in hot pursuit of a lovely female. Possibly tired of the relentless attention, she swam under the buoy line on the west side of DRC and headed for the shoreline. The males obviously followed. The dolphins in the front lagoon were about to do a session when the manatees arrived on the other side of the fence. Picture a group of large manatee bodies rolling around together. As you can imagine, this was a huge distraction and the dolphins just had to swim over and take a look.DRC staff members did our best to get a look, too. When we did, we saw that some of the manatees sported scars and healed gashes that indicated previous injuries – most likely from boat strikes! At one point, the female manatee pushed against the lagoon fences, possibly looking for someplace where she could get a break from her amorous companions. Concerned that she could hurt herself, we decided it would be safer to coax her to leave. Executive V.P. Mandy Rodriguez, who is also the leader of DRC’s Manatee Rescue Team gently paddled around in a kayak while other team members slowly walked through the water and pulled back the buoy line. Without rushing, or harassing the manatees, the team maintained a presence and, finally, the animals turned around and departed. Temporarily. A few moments later, we spotted them swimming toward the other side of the facility where they briefly slipped under the buoys and swam along the fences where the big boys live. Perhaps the lady manatee decided that the last thing she needed was more guys around because she turned around almost immediately and, you guessed, returned to the other side of DRC! Eventually, they must have realized that this was not the ideal courtship spot. The manatees left without assistance and swam off to explore elsewhere in the Keys.In the meantime, while all of this manatee melee was underway, we looked off the end of the causeway and spotted dorsal fins. Seems like a small pod of dolphins decided to drop by and feed in the waters around DRC.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

When it comes to shaking his groove thang, Kilo’s a dancing star. He already does his regular style, where he alternates picking up his front flippers. Now he’s adding more cool moves. Kilo lies down and spins around in his version of a sea lion break dance. He boogies by keeping his front flippers on the boardwalk but wiggling his hind quarters. (Very cute!) Now he’s also learning a cool sway, rhythmically swinging his long neck and head from side to side.We think the television judges would give him a perfect 10!

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

For all of our friends and members who live in Italy, we just received word that Dolphin Days will begin airing in your country this Thursday, June 4th at 11 pm. Check your local Animal Planet listings in Italy because often an episode airs more than once.